Revisiting Artsy Quick Pages

 

{My niece, Megan, on her 21st birthday}

After my last post, Go Big or Go Home, I was surprised to receive numerous comments and emails from people who agreed with me!  I truly believed that I was one of just a few people who dislike the current trend of putting one very small photo on a layout, and leaving lots of "white space" around it.  It's one thing when people are using this technique on their own layouts - that's all a matter of personal style.  But the trend has also extended to many, many of the Quick Pages available for download.

So it was nice to know that I'm not as alone as I thought!  Even nicer? I got some suggestions on a couple of really cool ways to use those Quick Pages.

Lisa of Mama Llama Designs mentioned that the more "artistic" Quick Pages look great when printed on canvas and hung on a wall.  I can envision that very well, and totally agree.

Amber and Belle both wrote to say they use the "artsy" QPs to scrapbook low resolution photos, such as those taken with a cell phone, and which will only print well at a small size anyway.  Awesome idea!

My layout, above, uses a low-res photo that I downloaded from Facebook.  It printed beautifully.

Wouldn't it be great if Quick Pages were customizable?  If you could change the size and/or position of the photo window, the elements, the paper, even the text?  Check out my first ever (and perhaps the only one of its kind anywhere) Layered Quick Page. 

It's a free download, too!

Go BIG or Go Home

Ok, peeps, what is UP with all the eensy-weensy photos on everyone's digital scrapbook pages???  If you browse any of the popular designer's websites and/or blogs, you know what I'm talking about.  Layout after layout after layout featuring only a single {tiny} photo, lots of digital elements, and a whole lotta blank space.

Not to mention, when I find a really fun Quick Page to download, there they are again -- itty-bitty windows in the .PNG files where you can slide in a photo no bigger than thumbnail-size.  Like this page:

{Quick Page by Creashens}

How CUTE is that page?  And perfect for the sweet photo of my great-niece, Kayla.  But, dang it, when I printed this out at 8"x8" for my family album, Kayla's picture came out measuring only 1.5" x 1.5".  That's wayyy too small for me {when I have to get out my reading glasses to get a good look at the photo I get grumpy}.

Maybe it's just me but when I look at this page I see the focus as being on the elements - the owl, the button, the stitching, the patterned paper border - rather than on the photo.  I like my pages to be the other way around - with my photos as the focus.

I've been waiting a long time for this trend to go away.  And it's just not going away.  I know there's this idea that all that "white space" (aka empty space) on the page is restful to the eyes, artsy, and modern but, in the long run, my goal is to get all my photos scrapbooked with a minimum of time and money spent.  If I scrapbook just one photo per page it's going to take me a LONG time to make any headway, and it's going to cost me a LOT in ink and paper, too, and albums to put all the pages in and page refills, and bookshelves to hold all the albums . . . well, you get the idea.

Well, I never have followed the crowd, but it could be that my taste and/or style is just different.  Like these pages that I did over the weekend:

{double-click any image for a larger view}

As you can see, my tendency is to FILL the page with photos - usually to the extent that there's no place for journaling {I'm working on that}.  I haven't left much room for elements either, like buttons, ribbons, digi-stickers, etc., which is kind of a shame since I have an external hard drive literally stuffed with 'em.

But somehow I'm ok with that.

And I'm keeping Kayla's page, too, 'cuz it's just way too cute not to.

Birthday Card Digital Photo Collage

I made this card for my son's 32nd birthday {wow!} and wanted to share it here since some of my family and friends who knew I was working on it, wanted to see it. Now that the birthday is past I can post these pics. By the way, the card was very well received. Rodrigo's dad, and wife, Dianna, probably enjoyed it just as much as Rodrigo; Dianna because she loves to see photos of her hubby when he was little, and his dad because he remembers those days well.

I create custom-designed greeting cards, to order, for any occasion!}

I also made the envelope {how cool is that?} using two pages torn out of a travel magazine and these directions by wikiHow. It was super-easy, eco-friendly, and added a really fun touch to the card. Not to mention, since I had neglected to make my card a standard size, I didn't have an envelope to fit! However, I liked the end result so much that I will probably be making envelopes for all the cards I send from now on.

I located some of my favorite photos of Rodrigo during his first year of life and scanned them into digital format. I restored the faded color {these were originally stored in the now infamous magnetic photo albums!}, cleaned up some dirt and scratches, sharpened them a bit, and then popped them into a collage template {a modified version of Scrapbook Etc.'s SBEQuickCollage303 which you can find here}.

I added the arrow in the top left photo pointing to my pregnant belly, and a bit of text to each of the other photos.

To make the card I simply printed out the photo collage and then adhered it to a folded piece of cardstock using black photo corners, for a bit of an old-fashioned look. You can either type up a sentiment, print it out, and glue it inside, or just hand-write it. Easy!
Seeing the photo on the top right really brings back memories. I hadn't the first clue what to do with a baby! It's pretty obvious by the look on my face. Rodrigo's dad didn't know any more than I did, we were just kids ourselves, but we managed; we just figured it out day by day.

I especially love the bottom left picture where Rodrigo is covered with the yellow-and-white gingham tied quilt I made for him, and which he carried around for years {his blankie}. What you can't tell from the photo is that Rodrigo is in an infant seat on the floor of the front passenger seat of our 1960 VW bug {as seen in the top left photo} - that's where he rode whenever we went anywhere. Every time we went around a corner too fast he would tip over!!! Yeah, no car seat laws in those days, I guess it's a miracle he even survived, but I'm SO GLAD he did!

Happy Birthday, Rodrigo! Love you!!

More Photo Repairs - Faded Color and Dust Specks

Before you ask, no, I haven't continued the work on yesterday's black-and-white photo. Working on that photo is intense! There's so much damage, and I have to zoom in and work slowly and carefully, almost pixel by pixel in some areas. I needed a break so I decided to work on some other photos; old faded color photos with minimal damage to repair. Here are two of them.

This first picture is my younger son, Michael, at about 3 years old, so it is from about 1982:
You can see that the color is faded and there's some kind of white stain along Michael's arm, stomach, and leg. He was dirty and muddy from gardening but that still doesn't explain the white! Hard to see here but there are also a lot of dust speckles in the background trees.
This is my result after cleaning up the dust specks, correcting the color, and removing the white stains.

The next photo is Michael again, a couple years later, maybe 1984 or so. There's less damage to this photo, but again the color is faded as is very typical of color photos from that time frame, especially when stored improperly (what can I say, I didn't know any better).

I corrected the color and removed the minimal scratches and spots. I decided to also crop this photo since I don't know the little guy in the background and wanted to clearly focus on Michael. Finally, I slightly blurred the background trees to further bring the focus on Michael and the slide in the foreground.

What do you think?

Oh, by the way, these photos were both scanned from prints. I'm excited to have digital copies now! You can bet I'll be making digital scrapbook layouts with these.

Stay tuned for more photo repair, restoration, and enhancements!

November Means Family Photo Opps

Happy November!

I'm always excited with this month rolls around. Halloween is over, Fall has Fell, and my favorite family holidays are just around the corner.

Here is a layout I created for a Family Reunion, but that would also work GREAT for all the family photos you're sure to capture this Thanksgiving.The large spot in the middle is perfect for a group shot. Then in the smaller spots you would place individual photos of family members or friends. Here is the layout with photos included:

Of course, you could use this for any event you wish. A child's birthday party, a sporting event, weekend trip, the possibilities are endless.

I have offered this layout FREE to my newsletter subscribers (as of today) and am now also offering it to my blog readers. Just send me 9 photos and I'll pop them into the layout. Use my Webajeb Photo Dropbox (powered by yousendit.com) to easily send your photos. If you have never used my photo dropbox before please click here for detailed instructions.

I can even modify the color of the background paper to match your photos. You'll receive back (in about 4 weeks) two digital files, one suitable for printing, the other for e-mailing or uploading to the web. I can also print the layout for you at a minimal charge (see my prices here).

Don't miss this great (and FREE!) opportunity!

Digital Photo Books - Bookmaking Services by Webajeb

As mentioned in last month's newsletter (sign up here if you don't already receive it), Bookmaking Services by Webajeb is coming!

If you'd love to have one of the many different soft- or hardbound photobooks now being offered by such websites as Snapfish, Shutterfly, Ofoto, Kodak, or MyPublisher, just to name a few, but don't have the time or inclination to work your way through the creation process yourself, we'll do it for you!

We have experience in working with the various photobook services and can save you the time and frustration of learning a new program or process, not to mention the hassle of downloading yet another software program onto your computer.

However, Bookmaking Services by Webajeb needs your help. We are having trouble trying to set a reasonable price for this new service. This is where you come in.

We need volunteers to provide photos and let us go through the creation process at some of the more well-known bookmaking sites. We will create your photo book completely free, then let you know it's out there to view. Whether or not you purchase the book is totally up to you. Here are the sites you may choose from:

Snapfish.com
Picasa.com
Shutterfly.com
MyPublisher.com
KodakGallery.com
Lulu.com
Smilebooks.com
PhotobookMemories.com
Blurb.com

But, hurry and contact us with your choice, because we will create only one book at each site. Once you have chosen your site we will call you to discuss how many photos to send, and other pertinent details.

This is gonna be FUN!

Cool Collages

I've been creating collages today, with the Quick Collage Templates by Scrapbooks Etc. Here are a few.

Ocean Beach at Golden Gate State Park , California:
The historic Fisher-Hanlon House in Benicia, CA.:
The Solano County Fair in California:
Queen Wilhelmina Garden at Golden Gate Park, California:
Aren't these cool and fun? I'll be making more. I'm finding collages are perfect when I have a bunch of "general" photos of an outing or event. You know...those photos that you love, but really don't require a caption, and sometimes not even a title, because they pretty much tell the "story" on their own?

Gather up a handful of your own photos and send them off to me. I'll make you one of these lickity-split!

A Fun Laptop Crop, and some Personal Layouts

Last Saturday a friend and I attended DigitalScrapbookingPlace.com's very first laptop crop at Adobe Headquarters in San Jose, CA. It was a blast! The ladies did a GREAT job. They had a big room set up with tables for our laptops, external hard drives, etc. There were about 100 of us attending; you should have seen the tangle of power cords under the tables, ha ha!

Anyway, we all had a great time, got fed lunch and dinner and snacks, watched some demos, learned some new techniques, won lots of prizes (well, everyone else did, all I got was a mousepad!), and Best of All, for me anyway, was getting LOTS of my own, personal layouts done.

Here are some of them:My nephew, Blake. Christmas family portrait. Digi-paper and elements by Claudi Designs. In my backyard.At the Dixon May Fair in 2007. Yes, that's me eating, eating, eating, junk food! (For more on my junk food habits check out this post on my personal blog.) Paper and elements from Club Scrap's Farmer's Market kit.

My cat, Jack, who loves water and bubbles, and likes to sit on the edge of the tub while I take a bath. Paper is Club Scrap; I can't remember off-hand where the rick-rack came from, darn it.
This year's Torchlight Parade.
Sis-in-law Maureen with her first grandbaby; three of my nieces and the same baby (yep, it's Blake again)! More Club Scrap - I love that club!
Michael, visiting from China in January.

These layouts were all over the board with regard to subjects and dates. Some of them were half-done so it was great to get them finished. I just worked on whatever photos grabbed my attention that day, and it was very freeing and relaxing and fun.

I even sent off an order for a dozen 12x12 prints of MY layouts to go in MY albums!

Tomorrow I'll be back to work on client layouts which are also fun, rewarding, and satisfying, just in a different way. I'm so thankful to my customers for their loyalty and their on-going business. Except for taking the month of June off, I have had steady work all year and my business is growing, and for that I am very grateful.

Photos - Pairing up the Old & New

It's always fun to come across photos, like the two above, that so well illustrate family traits. The boys in these two pictures are cousins, but these pictures were taken 20 years apart. Yet, look how similar they are! Their knees and legs are the same, the way they stand when they first get out of a swimming pool, even the way their hair sticks up in the back.

They are obviously related!

Do you have photos like these, that were taken years apart, or of remote family members, that illustrate a family trait or similarity? I'd love to see them!